Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

J-Skell’s been MIA for a little while, but he’s back strong today with two new reviews. I’ve already seen and reviewed THE LOOKOUT this year, and I find I’m still thinking about the amazing firefly sequence at the start of the film. I’m curious to see how it does at SXSW next week.

Until then, check out this reaction:

Scott Frank has written some pretty solid scripts in his time: OUT OF SIGHT, MINORITY REPORT, GET SHORTY, LITTLE MAN TATE, DEAD AGAIN, and got his start on a little show called THE WONDER YEARS. The truth is we don't even know the true prolific nature of his work since he's done so many un-credited rewrites of A-list movies. This time Frank finally has his chance in the driver seat as he has written and directed the new feature THE LOOKOUT, a project he's had in gestation for over 10 years. There were a lot of great directors attached to this one at various points: Sam Mendes, David Fincher, Michael Mann. I'm sure they all would have made great films from this script, but under Frank's first time direction he gives the film something truly unique and important.

The unique thing I'm talking about is simplicity. The film is taught and straightforward, and careful never to take the focus away from its subjects. It's a rare thing in Hollywood today, where the style over substance is pretty much commonplace. Even those directors who do pride themselves on substance tend to showcase it with a little bit of bravado. So Frank directed it straightforward and by the book, and that's what makes the film fantastic. I'm an absolute sucker for a sharp script and this is one of the best in the bunch. What's so great is there's no real gimmicks; even the main character's memory loss device comes across realistically, it's nothing like MEMENTO. The biggest screenwriting mistake is when a writer will sacrifice the honesty of a character for the sake of plot/pretty much anything else. Frank has always been pretty great about avoiding that and here is a perfect example. These characters earn every single moment in film (especially in a great scene where Matthew Goode's character delivers a monologue that would seemingly be a really, really tough sell). It's a great achievement and one that will largely go unnoticed.

There really is a lot to celebrate about this film. Joseph Gordon Levitt is starting to prove he's someone who really cares about integrity. He's a good actor who's looking for great roles in even better movies. This marks 2 for 2 in his recent work (yeah BRICK!). He's great as Chris Pratt and really carries the ethos of the film. Jeff Daniels brings his usual A-game as his blind roommate and carries most of the emotional weight as well as humor of the film. Matthew Goode really surprised me here as the bank-robber heavy. This role was about as un-dapper British guy as you can get and he pulls it off. Congrats to him on carrying the films pivotal scene I mentioned before that could have easily been a train wreck. Convincing good people to do bad things is hard in movies. This is a great example of how to do it right. There's a couple of other good token performances too. Isla Fisher AKA Mrs. Borat gets a nice little role here that may seem smaller than it really is. Her scene with Jeff Daniels subsequently taps into a nice bit of ethos that really resonated with me. And SPOILER WARNING! (the moment where the goofy, nice guy rent-a-cop finally has to do his job is one of the most satisfying cinema moments I've seen in recent memory. It defies Hollywood convention and yet makes total sense within the story. GREAT call.) END SPOILER

So in short, THE LOOKOUT, is great and will probably float under the radar. I worry that films with a tough sell today need some hook in order to get people talking about them. Like the way CHILDREN OF MEN had the cinematography. THE LOOKOUT only has that memory loss device and that would make it seem too much like MEMENTO for people. And the problem is this film is nothing like MEMENTO. It's something else, and maybe even something better.

So here's my hook which I hope will convince people to actually see this move: "THE LOOKOUT is really fucking good"… even with it's damn-awkward last shot… Damn I hated that shot.

Eh. Can't win em all.

Enjoy,
J-Skell